Bahrain Summer Festival 2012 launched

The fourth annual Bahrain Summer Festival was launched yesterday under the patronage of Culture Minister Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, at the Bahrain International Exhibition and ConventionCentre (BIECC). The festival runs until 15th July 2012. Shaikha Mai also launched NakhoolCity in which visitors enjoyed an action packed programme of fun activities. Thefestival’s mascot Nakhool once again welcomed children and adults alike toparticipate in free cultural, educational and fun activities such as electronicgames; technical colouring; painting workshops; a professional photography campand a puppet camp. Nakhool City will be open throughout the duration of thefestival from 2pm to 7pm on a daily basis. Following the opening ceremony, the Bahrain Summer Festival held a performanceat the BIECC featuring Slava’s SNOWSHOW; a visual masterpiece blendingtraditional and contemporary theatrical clowning arts within a beautifullycrafted visual spectacle. Organized by the Ministry of Culture under the slogan “ Manama, City ofJoy” the festival also offers a wide variety of exciting, artistic and culturalshows by international artists. Offering a wide variety ofexciting shows and fun family activities by international artists for bothyoung and old, the Bahrain Summer Festival attracts large crowds from Bahrain and abroad each year. This year the line-up of spectacular shows includes aplethora of educational and artistic events such as Slava’s SNOWSHOW createdand staged by Slava Polunin; the Wooden Circus by Karramoto; renowned Turkishmusician, Omar Faruk Tekbilek; Saudi rapper Qusai aka Don Legend the Kamelionin collaboration with DJ Outlaw and Flipperachi; a concert by the young localtalent, Hala Alturk, and performances of the West End family favourite, TheSound of Music. Tickets for the Bahrain Summer Festival are exclusively available atVirgin Megastore at Bahrain City Center or electronically through VirginMegastore's website virginmegastore.me. Tickets will also be sold at the venueswhere the events will take place if seats are still available. Ticket pricesfor the shows range from BD2 to BD10 with events at Nakhool City being free ofcharge. The Ministry of Culture has also obtained special rates and promotionaloffers with a number of leading Bahrain hotels for visitors and tourists duringthe month-long festival. The Ministry is grateful for the support of all thefestival’s sponsors, namely, the Sheraton Hotel, Intercontinental RegencyHotel, Crowne Plaza, Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Gulf Hotel, Ritz CarltonBahrain, Gulf Air, Seef Mall, Bahrain City Centre, Al Ayam newspaper, Al Watannewspaper and Saudi newspaper, Okaz. Further information about the Bahrain Summer Festival and its programmesis available on the website www.bahrainsummer.bhas well as the hotline  +973 80008089 in addition to the following social media channels: Twitter:@bahrainsummer12 Facebook: http://facebook.com/bahrainsummer Held under the slogan "Manama, City of Joy”, theBahrain Summer Festival 2012 is the fourth edition of thisannual event which aims to bring multi-cultural entertainment to residents andtourists alike. The month-long festival caters to family tastes with musicalperformances and educational, cultural and artistic events. Shows includeSlava’s SNOWSHOW, Aeternum by Los Vivancos, the Wooden Circus and Omar FarukTekbilek & Ensemble to name a few. The festival is represented by itsmascot “Nakhool”, a character symbolizing Bahrain’s ancient history in additionto the importance of the environment in local tradition. “Nakhool” will behosting a city that features a variety of cultural, entertainment, andeducational activities every day for the duration of the festival. Organized by the Ministry of Culture, this year the festival’s programmefalls in line with the diverse and innovative year-long programme of Manama,the Capital of Arab Culture 2012. Undertaken by the Arab League under theauspices of the UNESCO Cultural Capitals Programme, every year a different Arabcapital is awarded the opportunity to engage in a cultural dialogue with localand regional audiences. Manama was elected as the Capital of Arab Culture in ameeting of Arab ministers of culture in 2004. The Bahrain Ministry of Culturehas developed an innovative agenda for the year, which seeks to invite Arabs todiscover the cultures, heritages and identities of different parts of the Arabworld. The year-long programme for Manama, the Capital of Arab Culture 2012 isbroken up into 12 different cultural themes according to the months of the yearand is designed to foster an environment of multi-disciplinary learning with anappeal to all sectors of society. For more information visit the website: http://www.bahrainsummer.bh